It all started when William F. Holcomb left Indiana to seek his fortune in the
mining camps of Northern California. Discouraged by his poor luck there, he
drifted southward. While in Los Angeles, he was told a story about a small gold
discovery in the San Bernardino Mountains. So it was in 1859 that Bill Holcomb
came to these hills. And the rest is history.
Gold Fever Trail
Nuggets Of History In Holcomb Valley
Welcome to the historic gold country of the San Bernardino National Forest. This trail
takes you through the now peaceful Holcomb Valley where the saga of early miners is still
recorded. The mileage shown at each stop is the distance from the Big Bear Ranger Station.
The tour is 10.9 miles in length over a dirt road, and 8.2 miles back to the Ranger Station
via State Highway 18. Plan on about three hours to complete the trip. From the Ranger
Station go west on Highway 38, drive 1.2 miles and turn right
on Polique Canyon Road. 2N09. (Holcomb Valley turnoff.)
1. Holcomb View Trail
3. Two-Gun Bill’s Saloon
(3.6 miles)
Follow the Pacific Crest Trail
about 250 feet to the viewpoint.
If it hadn’t been for “boot soup,” Bill
and his companions would have
starved that first winter. Bill being a
fine marksman, was hired by other
prospectors to fetch bear meat. His
search led him through Polique Canyon. When he reached the summit of
the ridge he looked northward and
saw a beautiful little valley about two
miles in the distance.
The following day, Bill wounded a
“monster grizzly” and trailed it past a
quartz ledge which was flecked with
gold. The yellow metal seemed to be
everywhere! The news of Holcomb’s
discovery spread like wildfire, and
the rush was on. By July 1860, the
valley was swarming with prospectors.
(6.2 miles)
There is a short 280-foot walk
to the saloon.
This interesting log structure saw
many a gold nugget slide over its bar
for a glass of Old Gilt Edge. The early
day saloon was not only a place for
drinking, it was the social hall, court
house, and city hall of most boom
towns and mining camps. It was a
place to gather during the day when
not engaged in digging or looking for
gold, and at night to spin yarns, drink
and have a fling with “Lady Luck.”
2. Last Chance Placer
(5.2 miles)
Drive in 200 feet.
The miners worked the ground at
this site down to within several feet of
bedrock many years ago. Once “pay
dirt” was reached, it was moved by
horse and cart, or in sacks on the
backs of burros, to be “sluiced in the
rockers.” These crude gravel washers
were located near hand-built earthen
“snow ponds” where snow melted to
supply the water needed. One such
pond can be seen just up the gulch
from these tailings.
Diggings were shallow and easily
worked. In 1860, an average of three
pounds of gold a day was removed
from this area by Holcomb and his
companions. As the placer gave out, a
shaft was dug to search for bedrock
and the “Mother Lode.” However, they
encountered a large amount of water
which made the attempt unsuccessful. To this day, the Mother Lode,
which supposedly enriched this whole
area, has never been found.
4. Jonathan Tibbetts’
Grasshopper Quartz Mill
(6.7 miles)
Located in the “center of activity”
was a high piece of ground known as
“Chinamen’s Knoll.” Here Tibbetts
operated a Pico Steam Engine powered
stamp mill. Heavy iron heads rose and
fell pulverizing ore from John Bull’s
seven
mammoth
ledges
of
honeycombed quartz.
5. Hangman’s Tree
(6.9 miles)
This stately juniper stands as a
symbol of the law and justice of the
early turbulent days of Holcomb Valley. As miners and prospectors came
to seek their fortune, outlaws, claim
jumpers, gamblers and general trouble makers followed close behind.
There is recorded evidence of as
many as four convictions and subsequent hangings at one time on this
tree. When the victim of a hanging was
finally cut down, the branch from
which the rope hung was chopped off.
So you can tell how many “met their
Maker” here.
6. Original Gold Diggings
(7.1 miles)
It is in this general area that Bill
Holcomb made his original discovery
of gold while trailing a wounded bear.
“Pannin’ and diggin’” along this
intermittent stream yielded some of
the purest gold ever discovered in
California.
7. Belleville
(7.4 miles)
East of the original discovery was a
rich flat which drew the largest gathering of prospectors. A town soon
sprang up. In addition to the many
saloons, there was one store, two
butcher shops, two laundries, one
bakery, three carpenter shops, two
blacksmiths, one stamp mill and one
sawmill.
On the outskirts “dugouts” and hastily built shacks were used as shelter
for the miners. The population was
the typical mining town variety: good
men and industrious workers, worthless characters and professional
“badmen.”
The blacksmith’s wife, Mrs. Jed Van
Dusen, made a flag from petticoats for
the town’s first July 4th Celebration.
For her patriotic efforts the town was
named Belleville in honor of her pretty
little daughter, Belle.
San Bernardino National Forest / Gold Fever Trail / Holcomb Valley / Page 1 of 2
The Presidential election of 1860 in
Belleville was held at Jackson’s grocery
store. Abraham Lincoln received 307
votes in the county. In an election one
year later, Belleville missed becoming
the county seat by a mere two votes.
San Bernardino won that election.
8. Arrastres
(7.4 miles)
There is a 300-foot walk.
Remains of several “arrastres” may
be seen in the area. Although they are
of more recent construction than those
of the 1860s, they serve to illustrate
the method then used for extracting
gold from the ore.
The early types consisted of a low
stone and dirt wall built around a
large and fairly level stone. To a vertical post in the center was pivoted a
long horizontal beam. An end of the
beam was harnessed to a donkey or
mule to provide the power necessary
by walking in a circle outside the low
arasstre wall. A heavy chain was fastened to the beam about midway, and
the free end of the chain linked to a
bolt wedged into a heavy “drag stone.”
Occasionally, two drag stones were
used.
The slow, tedious process of grinding the chunks of ore took about four
hours. Water was used to wash the
crushed ore out of a single opening in
the arrastre where the gold was separated from the sand, usually by sluice
boxes. In the early days of the gold
rush, over 100 arrastres were built
and used to grind gold-bearing quartz.
9. Ross’ Grave
(7.7 miles)
There is a 460-foot trail to the
grave site.
Very little is known of this man
except for his name and the cause of
his death. Ross was killed accidentally
while operating a saw, and was buried
on the spot. The remarkable thing is
that in those days of the lust for gold,
someone cared enough to take the
time to hand carve the old picket fence
surrounding the grave.
At the peak of the rush in 1861, an
estimated 1,300 people were tempo-
rarily residing in Holcomb Valley. Most,
if not all, of the timber now standing
has grown since the days when loggers with their cross-cut hand saws
and “yokes of six” were snaking the
timber to nearby mills. Lumber was
needed to build the towns of Belleville,
Union City, Clapboard and Doble.
Heavy timbers were also needed to
shore up the ceilings of the underground mines.
10. Pigmy Cabin
(7.7 miles)
The trail to the cabin is 870 feet
in length.
This old cabin was a curiosity because it was so small. It is even more
interesting to know it was a barber
shop as late as the 1930s. One story
claims it was built small because of a
fast approaching storm. Another has
it that the builder was eager to finish
and try his luck at the nearest stream.
The cabin was destroyed by fire in
November 1983.
11. Metzger Mine
(9.3 miles)
There is an 800-foot trail
to the mine.
Soon after most of the placers were
staked, gold-bearing quartz veins were
discovered in the hills to the north
and down through Jacoby Gulch to the
east. The vein the miners followed
when they dug this hardrock “drift” is
visible above the mine entrance. Lode
claims could not be worked except
with heavy machinery which was not
readily transported on pack animals.
The necessity for a wagon road was so
great that miners subscribed $1,500
and a road was constructed by Van
Dusen down through Lower Holcomb
to connect with the old toll road in
Cajon Pass. On the new road, by wagon,
came an 800-pound boiler to power
the first quartz mill. It took 27 days to
transport it from Los Angeles to
Holcomb Valley.
12. Gold Mountain
“Lucky Baldwin” Mine
(11.3 miles)
The last major gold discovery
occurred in 1873 when Barney and
Charley Carter were out prospecting
for silver. While they were camped on
the north side of Baldwin Lake, Barney
went to inspect the quartz ledge that
was immediately above their camp.
His discovery turned out to be a
mountain of gold ore. Elias J. “Lucky”
Baldwin purchased “Carter’s Quartz
Hill." By 1876, Baldwin had 180 men
working in his mine and had
constructed a 40-stamp mill to process
the ore. The site of a large mill and
cyanide processing plant can still be
seen on the hillside to the west of the
site.
History now has it that when
Holcomb shouldered his rifle and left
Starvation Flats that day in 1860, more
gold would be taken out of "his" Valley
per square mile than anywhere else in
Southern California.
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